Of Nights Dreaming
by UnluckyAmulet
Summary: Tulip Siblings. In which little Belgium has a nightmare, and the Netherlands is both exasperated and sympathetic. Oneshot, fluff.


Disclaimer: Do not own, yadda yadda.

There seems to be a lack of fics about the brother-sister relationship between Netherlands and Belbel, so I figured I'd write something on these two! It's not historical, so feel free to think of it as slightly AU, if you want.

Enjoy!

* * *

There it is again.

A young girl jolts awake, her large green eyes wide with terror. Shakes wrack her small frame; despite the fact her body feels hot from panic. She glances around her bedroom as if she does not know how she got there, or what she ought to do now.

All she knows for sure is that she is frightened.

Biting her lip, the images still fresh in her mind like a newly-painted wall, Belgium cannot think of anything to do, and before she knows it, tears begin to pour down her face, the primal instinct of fear making this reaction both immediate and uncontrollable. Muffled sobs leak from beneath the girl's door as she attempts to keep her hysteria under control, and there is a telltale glow of her bedside lamp being switched on by fumbling, shaky fingers, a line of soft, pale light glowing in the crack between door and carpet.

She is not the only current resident in the house, however.

Netherlands, from his own room, sighs through his nose, deep green eyes half-lidded as he stares up at his ceiling with a faint expression of annoyance. As valiantly as Belgium is trying to keep her distress under control, her brother can hear her soft crying perfectly clearly. It's not like this is the first time he has awoken to this particular sound, after all.

Should he ignore it?

Absolutely.

Could he ignore it?

Of course not.

With an incredibly put-upon air, as if he has been forced to do so by gunpoint, or is being Court-marshalled into it, the lanky teenager swings his long legs over the side of the bed, rubbing one eye with his knuckles. Getting up and running a hand through his sleep-rumpled hair, the teenager leaves the sanctuary of his own warm bed, flinging aside the covers before he can change his mind.

Belgium, meanwhile, is huddled beneath her blankets, her sobs muffled as she hugs her favorite pillow to her chest. It has the faint scent of flowers, which normally provides the young girl with some comfort. But tonight, nothing seems to be helping. The pillow is saturated with tears, and she is squeezing it so hard that it looks as though the stuffing may burst out of the seam. Nightmares filled with teeth and of being left alone swirl in her mind's eye, the sensation of being utterly lost and alone simply too big for Belgium to handle. She knows it was a dream, but the sensation left over is all too real.

Her cries momentarily cease when she hears the sound of the light switch being flipped and her room is flooded with bright light.

Cautiously, after a moment of tension, the girl pokes her head out of the blanket cocoon, squinting slightly in the artificial glare.

"Br-brother?" the normally cheerful girl squeaks.

The sight of tear tracks on Belgium's face makes her older brother frown, even more than he is already frowning.

"Why are you crying?" he asks ever the blunt one.

Belgium sniffs, wiping at her wet cheeks with a corner of her blanket.

"I...I had such a terrible dream," she says, her voice a little hoarse from sobbing. She speaks haltingly, as though talking about the nightmare will prompt it to return.

Her brother sighs theatrically.

"Belgie, you know that nightmares aren't real."

This is true, but the horror she has recently woken from has chased away her rationality.

"Everyone was gone!" she chokes out, more to herself than her brother. "Everyone got sw-swallowed up by this m-monster, even you, big brother! And I was by myself...but I knew th-that the monster wasn't hungry, but it w-would be coming back for m-me anyway."

Her eyes well up again, tears sliding down her face as she recalls the terrible, overwhelming feeling of being all alone, lost in the wilderness with only the cold and darkness left to keep her company. Belgium lets out a tiny gasp of surprise when Netherlands, moving more silently than you would imagine someone of his size to be able to, reaches out and brushes the new tears off her cheek with his thumb.

"Stop crying." he says, gruffly, but the gentleness of his previous action lets the girl know that he is not angry with her for waking him up.

"S-sorry..."

He merely grunts in response, and then, Belgium is again taken by surprise when her brother bends down slightly and scoops her up, blanket and all, into his arms, and carries her out of her bedroom, stopping only momentarily to flick off the light switch.

"Brother?" Belgium asks, blinking up at him, her eyelashes still spiky with moisture.

"You'll never get back to sleep if I leave you by yourself." Netherlands mutters, by way of an explanation.

He knows from experience that once Belgium has one nightmare, her overactive imagination usually prompts several more, inviting further dreams to interrupt both her sleep and his. After long, nightmare-filled nights, Belgium is usually totally exhausted the next day, complete with thousand-yard stares, punctuated by heavy, sleepy blinking and, sometimes, falling asleep at the table.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, it's always him that Belgium comes running to whenever she has a bad dream. He doesn't really know why- he's never been very good at comforting people, but often, once she snuggles up next to him, she falls asleep almost immediately and doesn't wake again until the sun is up. Perhaps it's just something innate- she feels safe with her big brother, for whatever reason that is. She just trusts him, and, regardless of how he might act, Netherlands just can't say no in the face of this fact.

Belgium nods in agreement, burrowing back into her blanket like a glowworm.

Dropping his sister unceremoniously on the bed, Netherlands closes the door, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Thanks, big brother." Belgium whispers into the dark, snuggling down against the pillow, her eyes already beginning to slide shut.

"Yeah, yeah." he mutters back, nudging her slightly in the side so she'll move up.

She does, still wrapped up in her own blanket, the scent of flowers finally beginning to have its usual effect on her.

"Just for tonight." he warns.

But his sister doesn't even acknowledge that he's spoken, besides a little smile on her lips. Netherlands sighs, but he settles down, casting one last slightly concerned glance at his little sister. She is already sleeping, a peaceful expression overtaking her features for the first time that night.

Pulling his own blanket over himself and turning so he is facing away from Belgium, Netherlands closes his eyes, reflecting that he is a total liar. 

* * *

Isn't sibling love adorable? Almost makes me wish I had a big bro. XD

Hope you enjoyed!


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